Helphire help please!

roxy86_2

Hi all, I am ebing helped by helphire at the mo for an accident which wasnt my fault that occured on sun afternoon.

I was put through to helphire by my own insurance company yesterday and they have been really helpful. They have arranged for my car to be collected on wed to go to the nearest body workshop and i was delivered a brand new 11 plate curtesy car yesterday.

However I am absoultely petrified to drive it. I drove it a bit and do not feel confident in it at all. My car is an auto and even though i can drive manual its taking a little bit of getting used to again. Also the car is much bigger (longer) then any other car ive had. Ive only ever driven a polo and a citreon c2.
The third reason im petrified is that I am worrying about scratching it or curbing the pavement and having to pay £250. I know i could have taken out cpw but I cant afford to fork out £60 but I definately can not afford £250.

The thing is I have decided I actually would feel much better and a lot less stressed if i call them up and say i will make do without a car for however long my car is away being repaired.

But will i be penalised for not wanting a car? if they was to have said they will cover the car for scratches etc for £60 but recover it for the other driver I wouldnt be so scared about driving it but I just cannot afford to pay any money myself.

Any help would be great, thankyou

daveyjp

You can return the hire car - we recently refused one as our car was still driveable and we didn;t want a credit hire vehicle.

You should be aware this will be a credit hire car - in effect you are potentially liable for hire charges if they can't be claimed from the other party.

The hire charges for the car we were offered were an eyewatering £100 per day.

roxy86_2

i took out a £15 insurance policy with them so that if they are unable to claim the money back from his insurance company i will not be held liable.

i have just spoke to them and they said that the hire car is part of the package and if i wiah to return it that could affect everything else. he said i can call the company that have supllied the car to me if they have a car that is better suited to me but thats about it.

so i said to him well im petrified to drive it incase of any scratches etc so what if i dont drive it and leave it sat outside the whole time. He said that is entirely up to me. I am just so worried about having it as its my responsibility. I would rather them take it away and ill do without but they wont.

adamc260

Can I ask what car you have and what car they have supplied you with?

Helphire tend to operate on a credit repair/credit hire basis (and have an awful reputation too!) so if you drop out on the hire they tend not to like doing the repairs (as they only really make the money from the hire) but if the hire vehicle isn't suitable you could always ask for a smaller one. No doubt the hire bill will be argued by the third parties insurer but if you've helped mitigate your losses (keep them down) and asked for a smaller car then there's no real fall back on you. Ideally though, I'd walk away from helphire as its a headache waiting to happen!

You need to mitigate your losses and if you won't be using the hire car, your better off sending it back than making an insurance company pay for a car you haven't used. They say it will 'affect' everything but all that will happen is your claim will be passed back to your insurance (out the hands of helphire which is good!) and they will deal with repairs for you.

daveyjp

"i took out a £15 insurance policy with them"

Another arm to their money making operation.

roxy86_2

adamc260 wrote: »

Can I ask what car you have and what car they have supplied you with?

Helphire tend to operate on a credit repair/credit hire basis (and have an awful reputation too!) so if you drop out on the hire they tend not to like doing the repairs (as they only really make the money from the hire) but if the hire vehicle isn't suitable you could always ask for a smaller one. No doubt the hire bill will be argued by the third parties insurer but if you've helped mitigate your losses (keep them down) and asked for a smaller car then there's no real fall back on you. Ideally though, I'd walk away from helphire as its a headache waiting to happen!

You need to mitigate your losses and if you won't be using the hire car, your better off sending it back than making an insurance company pay for a car you haven't used. They say it will 'affect' everything but all that will happen is your claim will be passed back to your insurance (out the hands of helphire which is good!) and they will deal with repairs for you.

i wish i could. my insurance compnay passed me onto the helphire as I am only third party fire and theft and so they said they cannot actually help in this case as I have to claim from the third parties insurance.

They said that helphire may help but if not then i would have to contact the third parties insurance myself to hope to get the money.

I really do not want the hire car. I have explained to helphire that I do not feel comfortable with it and will be walking everywhere so its costing unecessary money to the third parties insurance but the bloke said that its part of the package.

Surely they would have gained some money as Ive had it for a day. couldnt they just say she needed it that particular day but doens t actually need it anymore as she isnt going to be driving much so will make do without it and that be it?

I dont want to cost unecessary money and i know i will defo not drive it.

Its a kia rio. Even if they could offer me a replacement smaller car i doubt ill drive it as I dont want to scratch it, curb it etc and dont want to be out of pocket. I would rather go without a car and sleep well knowing that the responsibilty is gone.

roxy86_2

daveyjp wrote: »

"i took out a £15 insurance policy with them"

Another arm to their money making operation.

and yse i completely agree with you. its scare tactics. its like when the girl said ok if you cause any damage to the body work then you will have to pay £250. Hoever if you pay £40 that will cover you for all the body work but not the wheels. If you pay £60 that will cover you for the whole car.

I dont want to fork out money for a car that i may only have for a couple of days but she made a point that if someone keys it etc i will have to pay £250.

Thats why now i would just rather them take the car back and I will go without.

roxy86_2

ok ive just contacted them again to say that i no longer require the vehicle as I only needed it to take my son nursery which i have done. Therefore I feel its probably best that its collected again to keep costs down. Otherwise its just costing his insurance company unecessary money. My worry is that if this is how the make their money ultimately and i am saying i no longer need the car could they penalise me and say that if i want to return it i am then liable for fees etc? I am so stressesd out!

I thought that they are meant take the stress out of this for you. The thing is they dont becasue the whole time that car is sat outside my door its my responsibilty and so therefore im stressing about it.

does anyone have any idea where i stand in demanding them to take the car back as i no longer need it?

dacouch

Tell them you no longer require the car from them, make sure you have a paper trail eg send them an email or fax.

The other Insurer will be more than happy to provide a car (Providing they accept their client is at fault) at their own risk if you give them a ring, especially if you mention you have sent the helphire car back. You will still have some type of excess if you damage their car.

They will also be happy to arrange repairs to your car if you want to get rid of Helphire

roxy86_2

dacouch wrote: »

Tell them you no longer require the car from them, make sure you have a paper trail eg send them an email or fax.

The other Insurer will be more than happy to provide a car (Providing they accept their client is at fault) at their own risk if you give them a ring, especially if you mention you have sent the helphire car back. You will still have some type of excess if you damage their car.

They will also be happy to arrange repairs to your car if you want to get rid of Helphire

thankyou for your reply. ok i have just spoken to helphire again prior to seeing your reply.

I was told that if i want to cancel the hire car they will have to cancel the whole thing, so no repairs etc. so i asked if i did that and then went to the third partys insurance compnay myself who would pay the fees for the hire car that have already occured. He said they would still claim it back off the third company but wasnt 100% sure. If i were to do this Is there anyway in which i could be liable to pay. So far i think the fees for the vehicles are about £180.

I asked why couldnt i just return the car saying that ive used for all i needed so now it can go back to save costs. he said no it has to be taken for the whole time till my car is repaired.

What? Ive just received the paper work that says I have a legal obligation to keep costs to a minuim and if I no longer require the hire vehicle then notify them so it can be collected. I have just called them to do that and was told i couldn't. What?!!!

Am i legally allowed to phone the third parties insurance and ask them whether they would prefer to do this direct rether than through helphire as I can see its going to cost them more through helphire as i do not need the vehicle. Or will i be breaking some term/condtion etc and therefore end up with having to pay fees etc.

Quentin

You need to consult the ts + cs of any agreement you have with them to conduct your claim, fix your car etc. to see if there are any conditions regarding sacking them off.

Regarding them not wanting taking your car back, have you spoken to a manager and pointed out the problem you are having returning the car (in accordance with their written advice now you no longer require it!)?